Reported crime in Dublin, which normally accounts for about two-thirds of crime in the State, fell last year for the fourth successive year, a conference of senior gardai in the city has heard.
The number of armed robberies doubled from the record low figure of 1998. There were about 130 such crimes in the city last year, a fraction of the rate of robbery that was taking place in the city in the late 1980s.
Overall, crime fell by just over 8 per cent on 1998. This follows the decreases of the previous years starting with a 2 per cent fall in 1996, a 14 per cent fall in 1997 and 10 per cent in 1998.
Only two of the 18 Dublin Metropolitan Regional (DMR) districts recorded rises in crimes, and in both instances senior gardai attribute the rises to social and demographic changes. In the area covered by Store Street station, there was an increase in "in-house" crime, relating mainly to shoplifting in the main shopping area of Henry Street. There was also a minor increase in bag-snatching and breaking into cars in dockland areas which have undergone gentrification in recent years.
Another minor rise in the Clondalkin district could also be attributed to the development of major new housing and shopping schemes in the area.
The statistics for the decline in crime in the city were discussed earlier this week at the twice-yearly meeting of senior detectives and the city's six divisional chief superintendents. This has become a feature of policing management in the city in recent years and is similar to the crime conferences which were introduced in the New York Police Department along with the introduction of the so-called "zero tolerance" policy.
As well as the declining crime figures, senior gardai in Dublin report improved detection rates, averaging around 40 per cent in the city with particularly high rates in the north of the city, where detection rates were as high as 50 per cent and, in at least one station, over 80 per cent.
DMR senior officers report to the Deputy Commissioner for Crime and Security, Mr Noel Conroy, and the head of the DMR, the assistant Commissioner, Mr Jim McHugh.